Carton with spout



Oct. 9, 1962 s. M. SILVER CARTON wrru SPOUT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 48 /Z i F GFiled Oct. 29, 1959 FIG.2

Oct. 9, 1962 s. M. SILVER 3,057,533

CARTON WITH SPOUT Filed Oct. 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TT RAVE-YUnited States Patent 3,057,533 CARTON WITH SPOUT Stan M. Silver, 25Central Park West, New York, N.Y. Filed Oct. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 849,4736 Claims. (Cl. 229-17) The present invention relates to a dispensingcarton, or the like, for ready flowing solids, such as powdered,granular or flaky solids; particularly to such dispensing carton havinga pouring spout formed integrally with the cardboard blank from which itis set up.

To be commercially practical and desirable, a dispensing carton of thecharacter described should meet certain standards and satisfy certainrequirements. Thus, such carton should be economical in the use ofcardboard, and the blank from which it is formed should consume no morecardboard than a conventional, spoutless carton of the same capacity.Also, the carton should be suitable for gluing, folding, setting up,sealing and filling on any of the several conventional straight-linegluing and other apparatus used for the same purposes in the production,setting up and filling of standard, spoutless cartons, without need formaterially modifying or altering such appa ratus. Additionally, thespout formed on such carton should be sufficiently strong and rigid soas not to buckle, fold or crease during repeated use.

While numerous dispensing cartons with integral spouts have heretoforebeen devised, none of them has met or satisfied all of the foregoingstandards and requirements. It is, therefore, the general object of thepresent invention to provide a dispensing carton of the characterdescribed having an integral pouring spout, which will meet and satisfyall of the principal standards and requirements set forth above, andwill possess other characteristics and features to make it practical,desirable and advantageous for commercial and general use.

It is, thus, one object of the present invention to provide a dispensingcarton having an integral pouring spout, of the character described,which consumes no more cardboard than a standard, spoutless carton oflike capacity.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a dispensingcarton of the character described whose blank may be easily and readilydie-cut from cardboard rolls with a minimum of waste of raw material.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a dispensingcarton of the character described whose blank may be glued, folded, setup, filled and sealed on any of the several types of conventionalapparatus used for similar purposes with the blanks of spoutless cartonsof the same general type.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide adispensing carton of the character described having a pouring spout thatis strong and rigid and will not readily buckle, fold or crease duringrepeated use and will readily and safely last the life of the carton.

It is additonally an object of the present invention to provide adispensing carton of the character described which is fully glued andsealed around the spout thereof against leakage.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dispensingcarton of the character described which may be easily and convenientlyused and whose pouring spout may be repeatedly opened and closed, fromfirst to last, without any difficulty or fumbling.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the dispensing cartonof the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilledin the art from the several embodiments thereof shown in theaccompanying drawing, and from the description following. It is to beunderstood, however, that such embodiments are shown by way ofillustration only, to make the princi- "ice pics and practice of theinvention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent oflimiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pair of laterally adjacent blanks, of oneembodiment, for the production of the carton of the present invention;shown with their lined face up, in position as cut from a cardboard rollor sheet;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary edge view of one of the blanks of FIG. 1, linedface down; more or less diagrammatically indicating continuous, untimed,straight-line application of glue to its end gluing tab, for a firstfolding and gluing step thereof on one type of conventional folding andgluing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the blank of FIG. 1 in glued and folded flatposition;

FIG. 4 is a bottom edge view of the glued and folded blank of FIG. 3;shown partly opened for setting up;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, enlarged perspective view, showing the topportion of the glued and folded blank of FIG. 3, fully opened; partlybroken away to show the arrangement of the spout forming portions of theblank;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5, showing the opened gluedblank after a first step in the sealing of the top thereof;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5, but at an angle of thereto;showing the glued blank after a second carton top sealing step;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to that of FIG. 7, showing the carton top fullysealed; modified to provide a spout-baring aid for use in an overwrappackage;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to that of FIG. 8, after a first step inopening the pouring spout;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to that of FIG. 8, with the pouring spoutfully opened; and

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a vertically adjacent pair of anotherembodiment of a blank for the carton of the present invention; shown asdie cut from a cardboard roll or sheet, with one of the blanksforeshortened and the other in fragmentary form.-

Cartons of the same general type to which the present invention relateshave top and bottom walls formed of top and bottom flaps on each of theupright walls thereof that are inwardly folded and adhesively securedover one another. Generally stated, the present invention contemplatesthe provision of a pouring spout for such carton, in the top wallthereof, that is disposed alongside part of one edge of the top wall ofthe carton and in spaced relation to the three other edges thereof, andis hinged at right angles to said first edge, and whose floor structureincorporates portions of two superposed wall flaps, to thereby rigidityand reinforce the spout floor or bottom against ready buckling andcreasing. This arrangement is effected by forming one of the spout sidewalls or wings and one layer of its bottom wall from the innermost ofthe top wall forming flaps and its other side wall or wing from anotherwise waste portion of cardboard between carton blanks, as shown inFIG. 11; thereby avoiding the use of any more than the standard amountof cardboard required for similar, spoutless cartons.

Referring now, in greater details, to the accompanying drawings, andwith particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 10, thereof, the same show acarton formed of a cardboard blank, generally designated as 12, ofgenerally conventional shape and formation; comprising a first sidewall, 14, at one terminal thereof, an end wall, 16, a second side wall,18, and a second end wall, 20, at its other terminal, formed with agluing tab extension, 22, along its outer upright edge, substantiallythe height thereof, and formed with a narrow cut-away, 24, extendinglongi- 3 tudinally along its upper edge portion, for a purpose whichwill be made clear.

The side and end walls 14, 16, 18 and 20 are formed with inwardlyfoldable, top-wall forming flaps, 26, 28, 30 and 32, respectively, andwith bottom-wall forming flaps, 34, 36, 38 and 40, respectively, alldefined from the respective walls by scored fold lines, and separatedfrom one another by cut lines, in the conventional manner; with the sidewall flaps 26, 30, 34 and 38, being preferably of a height equal to thewidth of an end wall, 16 and 20. In forming the top wall of the carton,after the blank is folded and glued by the tab 22 and set up inrectangular shape, the top end wall flaps 28 and 32 are first folded in;the top side wall flap 26 folded over them and glued thereto, and thetop side wall flap 30 folded over the flap 26 and glued thereto.

The spout of the carton, which is of conventional shape, comprises afloor panel, 44, and a pair of integral, roughly and approximatelyquadrant-shaped side-wall forming wings, 46 and 48, respectively,foldably connected to the side edges of the panel 44 and definedtherefrom by appropriate scored fold lines. In the embodiment of FIGS.

1 to 10, the spout floor panel 44 is formed at the upper,.

outer corner of the terminal top wall flap 32, with its upper edgepreferably comprising the upper edge of the flap and with its bottom orhinge edge defined by a cut line, 50, which is spaced from the flapbottom and which is interrupted at its ends or in the center to providepreferably two or more hinge connections, 52. One of the spout wings, as46, is cut from the portion of the flap 32 laterally adjacent to thefioor panel 44, by the cured out line forming the outer curved edge, 54,and the out line, 56, defining the inner edge thereof. Preferably, thecut line 56 defines an angle of more than 90 with the adjacent fold lineconnecting it to the spout floor 44, to provide a margin to insureagainst complete withdrawal of the wing from the carton when the spoutis fully opened.

The other spout wing 48 extends laterally from the floor panel 44thereof, in overhanging relation to the gluing tab 22 and preferablyextends slightly below the panel 44, similarly to provide a margin toavoid complete withdrawal of the wing from the carton when the spout isopened to its full extent.

In order to eliminate waste of cardboard material in die-cutting blanks12 from a continuous wide strip of cardboard, the spout 42 is of suchdiamensions and proportions that the radius of its quadrant wings or thebottom edges thereof does not exceed twice the width of a gluing tab 22,and laterally adjacent blanks cut from the cardboard sheet or roll arecut in inverted relation to one another, with their gluing tabs 22contiguous and abutting, as shown in FIG. 1, so as to provide acardboard area equal to twice the width of a gluing strip adjacent theouter side edge of each top wall flap 32, from which the wing 48 is diecut; which cardboard area would, normally, in a spoutless carton, bediscarded as waste.

To overlie the spout floor 44 and serve as a reinforcement therefor,there is provided in the top wall flap 26, that immediately overlies thespout forming flap 32, a rectangular section or area, 58, ofsubstantially equal or slightly larger dimensions than spout floor 44,whose edge that coincides with the hinge edge of the spout floor 44 is ascored fold line, 60, and whose other three edges, one of whichco-incides with part of the fold line separating panel 26 from wall 14,comprise tear away lines. fold line 60 is situated at a distance fromthe outer edge of the flap 26 substantially equal to the distance of theout line 50 from the bottom of panel 32. A short tear line, 62, normalto the inner edge of the area 58 at sub stantially its center, is formedin the flap 26, for purposes which will hereafter be made clear.

To expose the spout 42 to the exterior of the carton through theoutermost top flap 30, there is provided in the latter a tear away areaor section, 64, in position to overlie the section 58 of flap 26 whenthe top wall is formed.

The

Such tear away flap section 64 is of rectangular shape and of a sizepreferably equal in width to the width of the section 58 of flap 26 andof a length encompassing at least the section 58 and the tear line 62normal thereto. Such section 64 will have one longitudinal edgeco-extensive with the edge of the flap 30 and at least the two opposedof its other three edges defined by a tear-away line, 68. The fourthedge of section 64, parallel to the free edge thereof, may be either atear-away line or a scored fold line, as may be desired. The free edgeof the section 64 may be provided with an arcuate notch, 70, tofacilitate the tearing away thereof, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, of thedrawing; or with a downwardly foldable tab extension, 71, which dependsin unglued state alongside of the adjacent side wall 14, as shown inFIG. 8, for use in an overwrap package, as a starting point for tearingthe overwrap along the edges thereof, as well as to facilitate thetearing away of section 64. Such extension 71 may be cut from the bottomwall flap 30 of a vertically adjacent blank, without affecting theutility of the latter, thereby avoiding any excess use of cardboard forthe purpose.

The carton of the invention is formed from the blank 12 as follows:

As a first step, in forming the carton, the wing 48 may be upset in thedirection of the unlined side of the blank and glue is applied to thelined side of the gluing tab 22, as by the gluing wheel 73, as more orless diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 2. Both of the foregoing stepsmay readily be accomplished on any conventional apparatus, at normaloperating speed. Thereafter, end wall 20 is folded over on the adjacentside wall 18, and side wall 14 is folded over the adjacent end wall 16,with its edge portion overlying the glue-coated tab 22, to which it issecured. The thus glued and flat-folded blank may be stored and shippedin this form.

In sealing the carton top, in preparation for filling, which may be doneon any of the conventional setting up and sealing apparatus in use, thefolded flat blank may be squared, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, and setinto a threesided pocket of a constant motion type filler apparatus, orsquared and mounted over a mandrel of a mandrel type sealing apparatus;the following procedure being substantially the same in either case.

Top wall flaps 28 and 32'are first inwardly folded. This automaticallymoves wing 48 into the interior of the carton, against wall 14, itsinner edge abutting the edge of cut-out 2 4. Glue is then applied to thelined, outwardly disposed surface of the flaps 28 and 32; excepting tothe surface of spout wing 46, which is left uncoated. This may beeffected on any one of the types of timed pattern gluing apparatus.Preferably, and for the purposes of insuring lamination, the surface ofspout floor 44 is provided with a plurality of glue pockets, 72, in theform of perforations or depressions; all as illustrated in FIG. 6 of thedrawings.

Following the gluecoating of inwardly-folded flaps 28 and 32, flap 26 isfolded thereover and secured to the glue-coated areas thereof, includingthe special adhesion of section 58 of flap 26 to the spout floor 44. Theouter, lined surface of flap 26 is then glue coated; except for therectangular area encompassing the section 58 and the tear line 62, whichis left uncoated, as indicated in FIG. 7. The flap 30 is then foldedover and secured to the glue coated surface area of flap 26, to therebyseal the carton top. It will be seen that wing 46 is free from adhesiveconnection to the overlying flap 26 and that the rectangular section 64of flap 30 is free from adhesion to the underlying portion of flap 26.

To use the carton for dispensing through the spout, the section 64 ofthe flap 30 is pried open by the users finger, by engagement at thenotch 70, or by engagement of tab 71, as the case may be, and torn awayalong its defining tear line 66, to provide an opening 74 that exposesthe area which includes the spout fioor reinforcing section 68 and theadjacent tear line 62. Pressure is then applied, by a finger, over thetear line 62, sufficient to break the same and to depress the adjacentedge portions, without breaking them. This will expose the lead edge ofthe spout floor 44 and of the reinforcing section 58 secured thereover,and will facilitate the engagement of the spout floor for lifting andupending the same. Such lifting movement will break the tear linessurrounding section 58 on the three sides thereof and will upset wing 46against the adjacent edge of the opening 74 as thespout is upended intooperating position on the hinges 52 and scored fold line 60 of the spoutfloor 44 and reinforcing section 58, respectively.

It will be clear that, because of the inherent resilience of the blankforming cardboard, the edge portions of the tear line 62 will reboundinto substantially their initial position, to close the slot formed bythe broken tear line 62. It will also be clear that this operation maybe repeated every time the spout is opened without permanent distortionof the edge portions of such cut line 62.

If desired, means may be provided for preventing complete withdrawal ofthe spout wings through the opening 74, as the spout is upended, and forlocking the spout wings in position. Such means may comprise,respectively, the relatively slight extension, 76 on the inner end ofthe spout wing 46, past the line 50 and the notches 78, on the arcuateedges 54 of the wings 46 and 48, which lock over the edges of theopening in flap 26 that is left by the upending of the spout.

Overbalanced inward movement of the spout is prevented by the abutmentof the inner edge, 80, of the wing 40 against the edge of the cut-outportion 24 of gluing tab 22, when the spout floor 44 is level with thetop wall,

. in the closed position of the spout, such cut-out being provided forthe inner extension of wing 48 past the hinge line 50, as seen in FIG.6.

FIG. 11 of the drawing illustrates a modified form of blank for formingthe dispensing carton of the invention. In this embodiment, the spout isshownto be integral with the flap 30 of the side wall 18, instead of theflap 32 of end wall 20. The end wall flap 32 is shortened, so as to haveno portion thereof underlie the spout. A side edge of the spout floor,144, is defined alongside the free, upper edge of the flap 30, its hingeline, 150, being perpendicular to such edge and spaced from the edge ofthe flap contiguous to the edge of flap 32 a distance equal to theheight of the latter. One of the spout wings, 146, is cut out from thefloor forming flap 30 and the other, 148, forms a vertical extensionthereof, alongside of the spout floor 144. i

In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the blanks are die-cut in correspondingorientation, in continuous longitudinal order, with the spout wingextension, 148, of one blank being cut out from the bottom flap 38 ofthe corresponding side wall 18, of the blank immediately above. Suchprovision for the wings 148 does not affect the utility of the bottomflap 38 and avoids the utilization of any cardboard in excess of thatrequired for a similar, spoutless carton blank.

In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the reinforcing tab, 158, for the spoutfloor 144 and the tear line, 162, associated therewith, are formed inthe top wall flap 26, as in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 10, inclusive.However, in forming the top wall of the carton, flap 30 is infoldedbefore flap 26, and is secured to flaps 28 and 32, and flap 26 isinfolded on top of flap 30, so that section 158 and tear line 62 aredirectly exposed at the top of the carton, thereby eliminating the needfor any tear away section such as 64.

This completes the description of the dispensing carton of the presentinvention, the blanks from which it may be formed and the methods bywhich it may be set up and sealed. It will be clearly apparent from theforegoing that such carton is completely practical from the point ofview of the carton manufacturer and packer by reason of its economy inthe use of cardboard and its adaptability for folding, sealing, settingup and filling on any of the various types of apparatus available forthe purpose. It will also be apparent that such carton is highlydesirable for the consumer, because of the ease and convenience withwhich the pouring spout thereof may be manipulated and the sturdinessand durability of the spout.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variationsin the carton of the invention, the blank from which it is formed, andthe methods by which it is set up and filled may be made by any oneskilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the inventionhereinabove set forth, and without the exercise of any inventiveingenuity. I desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all suchmodifications and variations that may be made within the spirit of thepresent invention and scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A carton comprising two pairs of upright walls, one wall of one ofsaid pairs of upright walls having a gluing tab along its longitudinaledge engaging the inner face of the marginal edge portion of one wall ofthe other of said pairs of upright walls, and a closure for said cartoncomprising flap extensions on said upright walls hinged to said uprightwalls at their upper edges and inwardly folded over and secured to oneanother, a pouring spout formed in said closure and integral therewithsaid pouring spout disposed along the edge of said one wall of saidother pair of upright walls in spaced relation to the edges of the otherthree of said upright walls, said pouring spout including a portiondefined in a flap extension immediately facing the interior of thecarton and connected to said extension on a hinge line at substantiallyright angles to the edge of said one wall of said other pair of uprightwalls and an approximately quadrantshaped wing portion integral withsaid first spout portion and forming a lateral extension of said firstportion said quadrant wing portion having its edge facing said one wallof said first pair of upright walls spaced from said last named wall adistance equal to the width of said gluing tab adjacent said closure andadapted to contact the edge of said gluing tab when said spout is inclosed position, said wing portion having a sliding contact wth said onewall of said other pair of upright walls when said spout is moved toopen and to closed positions.

2. The carton of claim 1, wherein said first spout portion includes asecond quadrant-shaped wing portion foldably integral therewith alongits edge opposed to said first quadrant portion and wherein a flapextension overlying the flap extension having said first spout portionformed therein is provided with a tear-away portion defining an openingin register with said first spout portion said second quadrant wingportion having a sliding contact with an edge of said opening when saidspout is moved to open and to closed positions.

3. The carton of claim 1, wherein said pouring spout is formed on theflap of the upright wall having said gluing tap.

4. The carton of claim 1, wherein said pouring spout is formed on theflap of the wall adjacent the wall having said gluing tab.

5. The carton of claim 1, wherein a tearaway tongue is provided in theflap overlying the flap having said first spout portion formed therein,in register with said first spout portion and adhesively securedthereto, said tongue hinged to the flap thereof along a linesubstantially in register with the hinge line of said first spoutportion.

6. The carton of claim 2 wherein a third flap extension is interposedintermediate said two flap extensions, said intermediate extensionhaving a tear'away tongue provided therein in register with said firstspout portion, said tongue hinged to said intermediate flap along theReferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSJohnson Aug. 13, 1935 8 Venning et a1. Nov. 5, 1935 Metzger Feb. 4, 1936Sullivan Mar. 2, 1948 Graybill Nov. 5, 1957 Bergstein Dec. 23, 1958

